Symbian's CEO Nigel Clifford said that desktop PCs are on their last legs thanks to the rise of the smartphone: "Desktops PCs are effectively a flatlining commodity," Clifford said on Tuesday at the Symbian Smartphone Show. Clifford staked his claim on the popularity of smartphones in the developed world and the "leapfrog economies" that are skipping a landline buildout and going straight for wireless ones. Between the two, Clifford sees a "smart phone in every pocket." Take, for example, India where the PC market is growing at 5 million units a year, while mobile phones are enjoying 5 million units--per month. Symbian's head of propositions, John Forsyth, put the argument on a timeline when he suggested that "in five years' time you'll wonder why you need a PC at all."
For more on Clifford's speech:
- see this article from ZDNet